Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Chemosphere
Volume
361
PubMed ID
38795918
Publisher
Elsevier
School
School of Engineering
Funders
AMP Foundation
Grant Number
DE220101043
Abstract
The present study describes a novel double-modified strategy for developing high-performance thin-film composite reverse osmosis (TFC-RO) membranes by incorporating titanium-based metal organic frameworks (NH2-MIL-125) and functionalised multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into the support layer and selective layer, respectively. Initially, the support layer was subjected to successive modifications using NH2-MIL-125 mixed with polysulfone (PSF) in dimethylformamide DMF solution to investigate their impact on the performance and properties of the support layer and resultant TFC-RO membranes. Results indicated that the new structure of the modified support layer had significant influences on the developed TFC-RO membranes. Notably, the pristine PSF support exhibited a large surface pore size, medium porosity, and strong hydrophobicity, resulting in a low-flux TFC-RO membrane. However, after modification with NH2-MIL-125, the optimal blend support demonstrated a small surface pore size, high porosity, and improved hydrophilicity, favouring the formation of a high performance TFC-RO membrane. The incorporation of functionalised MWCNTs nanochannels into the selective layer, using the optimal NH2-MIL-125-PSF blended support, resulted in a smoother and more hydrophilic TFC-RO membrane with enhanced negative charge to improve antifouling properties against negative foulants (i.e., nanoplastics (NPs) and bovine serum albumin (BSA)). The double-modified membrane (TFC-RO-DM) exhibited superior performance over the conventional PSF-TFC-RO membrane. Notably, the maximum water flux reached 39 L m−2.h−1 with 98.4% NaCl rejection. The membrane exhibited a high flux recovery rate of 92% following a 30-min physical cleaning process. Additionally, the TFC-RO-DM membrane displayed reduced fouling against NPs suggesting the great promise of this innovative double-modification approach for the advancement of high-performance TFC-RO membranes.
DOI
10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142401
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Comments
Farahbakhsh, J., Najafi, M., Golgoli, M., Haeri, S. Z., Khiadani, M., Razmjou, A., & Zargar, M. (2024). Dual modification of reverse osmosis membranes with NH2-MIL-125 and functionalised multiwalled carbon nanotubes for enhanced nanoplastic removal. Chemosphere, 361, 142401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142401